relationships.”
“I’m working on it. Actually, can you do me a favor?”
“Try me.”
“I don’t want your friend to know what happened with Ben. Did you tell him already?”
“No. I just told him that you were fun and that you recently broke up with someone, so you were single. Why?”
“I just want to escape it, you know? And I don’t want him to know me as the girl who had her engagement canceled online.”
“It’s nothing to be ashamed of.”
“I’m not ashamed, but I am embarrassed, and then I have to explain what happened and relive the whole thing over and over and over again. It’s bad enough I was the talk of the town at home. If I’m going to meet some new people, I’d like to leave that part of me in the past. I want a fresh start. Okay?”
“That makes sense. Okay, I won’t say anything about the engagement. We’ll keep that our dirty little secret.” She reached over and locked her pinky finger around mine.
“Of course, the downside of that is that then I just look like I’m fat for no reason.”
“You’re not fat,” she answered reflexively.
“I gained twenty pounds and I’m short, Grace. I know love is blind, but you don’t love me enough to not have noticed. It’s okay. I’m working on that too.”
“So you gained a few pounds. Who hasn’t?”
“Seeking comfort in Betty Crocker and Sara Lee seemed like a good idea at the time. Then again, so did marrying Ben. I apparently have horrible decision-making skills.”
“Well, you keep good company.”
I smiled as I stared ahead at the seemingly endless traffic. Leaving the city at 3:30 P.M. on the Friday of Memorial Day weekend had also seemed like a good idea at the time, but since we were still sitting in traffic almost three hours later, we were starting to rethink our plan. The weather reports said that it was going to be seventy-five degrees and sunny this weekend, perfect beach weather, so it was unfortunate that we were not the only people who apparently read accuweather.com. We had packed up our summer clothes and all other warm weather essentials—our bikinis, beach towels, sunblock, and enough Coronas to get the entirety of Mexico hammered—and headed out.
I looked out the window as we drove, my mind flitting back and forth between the dream life that I wanted and the real one I was currently living. I thought about the storied mansions on the Newport cliffs and how at one point people actually kept them solely as summer homes. I’m sure that the old adage that money can’t buy you happiness is true, but as someone whose checking account was pathetically low, it was hard for me to believe that it hurt anything. I mean, maybe money can’t buy happiness, but it can buy you plenty of other things to distract you from your misery. Which is more than I could say for myself. All I’d had these last few months was Grace and sugar in all its many wondrous forms.
“I need you to read these to me,” Grace said as she handed me a white napkin with blue ink scribbled illegibly on it. There were only two lines written on it, and for a second I was nervous that maybe Grace had been bombed when she attempted to write down the directions and passed out halfway through.
“I don’t see a beach,” I said, wondering if this had all been some giant ruse and she was really about to drop me off at a fat camp in the middle of nowhere.
“The house is close to Gooseberry Beach, but it’s a drive. Before you freak out, the house is literally a two-block walk to town, the piers, and all the bars. I figured we’d care more about being able to walk to the bars than we would about walking to the beach. Oh, and there’s an ice cream parlor too, in case you keep talking to Ben and fall off the wagon again.”
“I resent that. I’ve been doing so well.”
“It’s been two hours.”
“You’re impossible to please.”
I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. I pulled it out hesitantly, sensing that it was Ben,
“I’m working on it. Actually, can you do me a favor?”
“Try me.”
“I don’t want your friend to know what happened with Ben. Did you tell him already?”
“No. I just told him that you were fun and that you recently broke up with someone, so you were single. Why?”
“I just want to escape it, you know? And I don’t want him to know me as the girl who had her engagement canceled online.”
“It’s nothing to be ashamed of.”
“I’m not ashamed, but I am embarrassed, and then I have to explain what happened and relive the whole thing over and over and over again. It’s bad enough I was the talk of the town at home. If I’m going to meet some new people, I’d like to leave that part of me in the past. I want a fresh start. Okay?”
“That makes sense. Okay, I won’t say anything about the engagement. We’ll keep that our dirty little secret.” She reached over and locked her pinky finger around mine.
“Of course, the downside of that is that then I just look like I’m fat for no reason.”
“You’re not fat,” she answered reflexively.
“I gained twenty pounds and I’m short, Grace. I know love is blind, but you don’t love me enough to not have noticed. It’s okay. I’m working on that too.”
“So you gained a few pounds. Who hasn’t?”
“Seeking comfort in Betty Crocker and Sara Lee seemed like a good idea at the time. Then again, so did marrying Ben. I apparently have horrible decision-making skills.”
“Well, you keep good company.”
I smiled as I stared ahead at the seemingly endless traffic. Leaving the city at 3:30 P.M. on the Friday of Memorial Day weekend had also seemed like a good idea at the time, but since we were still sitting in traffic almost three hours later, we were starting to rethink our plan. The weather reports said that it was going to be seventy-five degrees and sunny this weekend, perfect beach weather, so it was unfortunate that we were not the only people who apparently read accuweather.com. We had packed up our summer clothes and all other warm weather essentials—our bikinis, beach towels, sunblock, and enough Coronas to get the entirety of Mexico hammered—and headed out.
I looked out the window as we drove, my mind flitting back and forth between the dream life that I wanted and the real one I was currently living. I thought about the storied mansions on the Newport cliffs and how at one point people actually kept them solely as summer homes. I’m sure that the old adage that money can’t buy you happiness is true, but as someone whose checking account was pathetically low, it was hard for me to believe that it hurt anything. I mean, maybe money can’t buy happiness, but it can buy you plenty of other things to distract you from your misery. Which is more than I could say for myself. All I’d had these last few months was Grace and sugar in all its many wondrous forms.
“I need you to read these to me,” Grace said as she handed me a white napkin with blue ink scribbled illegibly on it. There were only two lines written on it, and for a second I was nervous that maybe Grace had been bombed when she attempted to write down the directions and passed out halfway through.
“I don’t see a beach,” I said, wondering if this had all been some giant ruse and she was really about to drop me off at a fat camp in the middle of nowhere.
“The house is close to Gooseberry Beach, but it’s a drive. Before you freak out, the house is literally a two-block walk to town, the piers, and all the bars. I figured we’d care more about being able to walk to the bars than we would about walking to the beach. Oh, and there’s an ice cream parlor too, in case you keep talking to Ben and fall off the wagon again.”
“I resent that. I’ve been doing so well.”
“It’s been two hours.”
“You’re impossible to please.”
I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. I pulled it out hesitantly, sensing that it was Ben,
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